Clare Balding previously recalled the vile body-shaming comment made by her father – causing her to start a heartbreaking extreme diet in a bid to lose weight.
For years, Clare has been a staple on screens – hosting coverage of Channel 4’s Paralympics, Wimbledon and the Olympics. Prior to her telly career though, Clare found fame as an amateur jockey.
However, back in the day, things took a heartbreaking turn for Clare following a cruel comment from her dad about her weight gain.
Clare Balding on weight gain as jockey
Back in 2012, Clare opened up about her struggle with weight when she was younger and starting out in her career. Writing in MailOnline, she recalled an incident when was 19 and in her third year as a jockey.
Clare revealed how when she swung her leg over a horse, she heard “an ominous ripping sound” from behind her.
“I knew immediately what it was. I had put on so much weight that when I arrived at the racecourse on that October day in 1990, my thin leather boots strained as I battled to zip them up. Now, in full view of everyone who cared to look, my overly tight breeches had split down the back seam,” Clare candidly revealed.
Clare Balding told by Dad: ‘You look like a sack of potatoes’
The Celebrity Gogglebox star went on to reveal how her father, the champion racehorse trainer Ian Balding, told a journalist at the time she was “not really the right shape to be a jockey”.
You’ve got very porky. Lose it.
She then recalled a comment her father made to her aged 16, when she was allowed on a racehorse.
Clare revealed: “‘What were you doing?’ he snapped at me, as I pulled up at the end of a half-mile gallop. ‘You looked like a sack of potatoes. You need to find a bit of muscle somewhere. You’ve got very porky. Lose it.'”
Clare Balding was on heartbreaking diet
Soon after, Clare’s father entered her in a flat race. Weighing 10st 5lb, Clare was told by her dad that she had to be 9st 10lb — more than half a stone lighter — in just 10 days.
Clare then shared how in the run-up to the race, she exercised three hours every morning. She then spent the afternoon “in Dad’s plastic sweat suit” running or cycling. She would then spend 40 minutes in the sauna at a time.
As for her food and drink, she had half a cup of tea in the morning, followed by a slice of melon, half a glass of orange juice and a “slurp” of coffee. Clare revealed she’d then have a salad for lunch followed by a Lean Cuisine meal for supper.
“It was hard work, and horribly boring. All I could talk about was how many pounds I had lost or needed to lose. I nearly fainted if I stood up too fast, and my mouth was dry with dehydration. I would collapse into bed by nine o’clock in the evening, hoping beyond hope that I would wake up two pounds lighter than I had gone to sleep,” she candidly revealed.
Clare also admitted she “stood on the scales at least six times a day”.
What’s more, the TV presenter noted how she shaved her legs, trimmed her nails and “even had her hair cut short to try to save a few more ounces”.
Clare Balding ‘too elated to care’
Clare also shared how on the day of the race, she was forced to “block her ears” after the announcer revealed on the public address system she “would be carrying three pounds overweight”.
As she came in second, Clare revealed a punter shouted to her “a few less pies next time”. But at the time, she was “too elated to care”.
Clare explained that after hearing the roar from the grandstand for the first time, “it was such a thrill, such a total rush of adrenaline, that I became instantly hooked on racing”.
Watch Clare host the Paralympics on Channel 4.
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